NAIROBI, Kenya — Last week Somalia's Al Qaeda-aligned Islamists lost the town of Afgoye close to Mogadishu, today they were pushed out of Afmadow in the south, leaving them with only a handful of redoubts, most notably the port of Kismayo.

A private intelligence firm says the Somali militant group, al-Shabab, has threatened to bring down Kenya's skyscrapers within two weeks, a warning that followed a bomb attack in Nairobi's city centre.

31 May 2012 – The top United Nations official for Somalia today called for greater investment in the Horn of Africa nation, as international partners gathered to renew their commitment to the country's recovery and development and to support the ongoing political transition.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Somalia’s prime minister said Thursday that his country has more to offer than pirates, militants and images of the hungry, and that Somalis can even teach the world a thing or two about resilience.

More Kenyan troops are approaching the al Shabaab held port of Kismayo. This port is a major al Shabaab base, and the source of much of their income and most of their imported supplies. Al Shabaab charges ships to unload goods for local merchants and collects various other taxes in the town. Losing Kismayo would be a major defeat for al Shabaab and would greatly weaken the Islamic terrorist group.

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today condemned the murder of a Somali journalist and called on local authorities to ensure that those responsible for crimes against media professionals are punished for their deeds.

Turkey has expressed its hope that the Somalia Conference in Istanbul will constitute an important turning point in ending violence in Somalia and launching a new political process to establish a national government, in a move to end armed conflict among different local clans.

Somalia needs a global reconstruction effort to back up ongoing stabilisation efforts and stop the Horn of Africa's 20-year descent into chaos, leaders said Thursday at the start of a meeting in Turkey.

MOGADISHU, May 30 (Reuters) - Kenya's military said it captured the Somali rebel redoubt of Afmadow on Wednesday, but the al Shabaab militant group said it had repulsed a Kenyan attack and still controlled the strategic town in southern Somalia.

Somalia stands at a new crossroad. The term of the current Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) ends in less than two months. Everyone is wondering what will come next. Elections are not possible, so Somali politicians and their UN-led international backers have agreed that traditional tribal elders will lead the next phase. But questions remain over who exactly represents Somali clans; any mistake in naming them has the potential to unravel the significant political and security progress that has been made so far.

NAIROBI, KENYA -- Kenya has renewed its long-stalled offensive against al-Qaida's affiliate in Somalia, just days after the Kenyan government blamed the Somali Islamists for an apparent terrorist attack in downtown Nairobi.

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Somali leaders and civil society bodies, high- ranking representatives of the international community and the members of the Turkish government are set to discuss the future goals of a recovering nation

Kampala. Passports recovered from al Shabaab hideouts in Al fitri, 12kms, north of Mogadishu by the UPDF show that one of the terror group’s commanders travelled through Entebbe International Airport without being detected by airport security.

Somalia has always featured very high on the agenda of all Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit and ministerial meetings. The OIC continues to actively contribute through its political initiatives and humanitarian activities to finding a durable solution to the Somali conflict and alleviating the sufferings of the people